What you need to know
- Last week’s CrowdStrike issues took down a significant portion of the world’s Windows PCs thanks to a bad update that rendered them unusable.
- The fallout caused chaos with banking, airlines, retail, and healthcare, to name a few.
- Southwest Airlines it seems managed to avoid the problems, even if the airports it served did not, thanks to the ancient Windows 3.1 software it was using.
You know how we’re always encouraged to keep our PCs up to date, in part for security? Well, during last week’s CrowdStrike-inflicted chaos, America’s Southwest Airlines avoided a direct hit by doing the exact opposite of this (via Tom’s Hardware).
All thanks to Windows 3.1. No, you read that correctly, and it’s not a joke.
So that’s the answer then, right? Everyone throw Windows 11 in the trash right this second and go back to Windows 3.1.
Please don’t do that.
Delta, United, American Airlines flights are all grounded right now.The reason Southwest is not affected is because they still run on Windows 3.1.https://t.co/ezFubvKVNAJuly 19, 2024
As also reported by Tom’s Hardware, Southwest doesn’t just use Windows 3.1, it has something a little more modern to handle some of its staff systems.
That OS is Windows 95 😂.
While larger airlines such as Delta and United had to ground planes because none of their essential systems on the ground were working properly, Southwest just sat in the corner operating as normally as possible while chaos surrounded them. Presumably breaking out the smug face.
While there’s certainly a funny side to this story, obviously, the CrowdStrike problem was anything but. Such issues should not be a reason to avoid updating to newer versions of Windows in enterprise, and yet, simultaneously could act as the number one reason not to.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
I was amazed a couple of years ago to see a piece of software a relative had to use in their job, so old I was surprised it even ran on a more modern version of Windows. It looked like it was built for DOS. That same ethos clearly existed, it still worked, it did the job, so why bother spending the money updating it?
I wouldn’t recommend anyone runs Windows 3.1 as a daily driver. Vintage computing enthusiasts are a different breed, but in the connected age, you do need to take security seriously. The trouble is, as I’ve already written, it’s scary how easy it was to take out half the planet with a bad update.
